Looking for fuel saving chip

[frydaddy]

Looking for a chip that will help save fuel for a 2003 F250 Super Duty Turbo Diesel 6.0. Can anyone suggest one? I keep reading about the DP Tuner, is this what I need?

Fry

[teamroper60]

There are a few custom tunes that you can get which will improve mileage slightly however the cost involved in the purchase and obligatory gauges, etc... will negate any savings you would get from it for a very long time.

If fuel mileage is what you seek, keep your rpms below 2K and don't "short trip" it.

Finally, 6.0's don't use "chips", the PCM is different than a 7.3. They use modules or tuners. It's sematics, I guess but since chips are typically switch on the fly and tuners are not, it can be important when making your choice.

[frydaddy]

Thanks for the reply teamroper60...

What kind of investment are we talking here?

I've read up on a few tuners and it looks like they are all mainly to add power and simply display your fuel consumption to coach you on driving habits. So I'd have to get a custom tuner?

[worldwide73]

Programmers around $400 and gauges anywhere from $200 up

[dikkstarr]

Believe it or not my Banks 6 gun on setting 3 got me 3 mpg increase, even with my lift, stock gears, and 38" tires.

Yeah its not the best tuner out there and you can gain more with another, but Banks was the only tuner around in 04 when I bought my truck so dont flame me about using it.

Now the price for the tuner was around 600 I think but I got it in early 05, and diesel here in socal now is hitting 4 bux again,(july 08 anyone?? 5.39/gal).

Basically, I gained another 100-120 miles per tank, about ten gals or 40 bux. So it would take 15 tanks or 4 months to break even on the price of the tuner, which Iv done many times over.

You do need guages and thats more money, but depending on how much you drive, I drive a lot, you can be ahead of staying stock faster than you think, especially when diesel prices will never fall again.

[mwilbur516]

The higher HP tunes I run the better my fuel mileage. I honestly believe its only because I'm not applying as much peddle to obtain the same power/speed that I would on my stock tune. The Looney Tune gets me up to around 22-23 mpg on the winter fuel, but you're not safe runnin' that sort of tune without studs and gauges. You can say you won't get into it, but after you feel the low end increase........ well its inevitable that you'll want to see just what the vehicle is capable of. The next thing you know your mechanic is giving you a heart attack with the cost of new gaskets.

[iwejun]

Bully Dog Triple Dog E3 Diesel Downloader. Simple through OBD port, have choice of economy or tow/economy setting. With 4.10's upwards of 15mpg empty but 11's while towing 32' fiver w/ tall frontal area.

[tuckman]

Put me up for a vote on getting gauges and save for head studs later if you are going to tune your truck. I believe there are 2 very good options.

1) SCT X-3 with custom tunes from many different tune writers including Innovative Diesel (a site supporter). You can get everything from extreme horsepower tunes, towing tunes to strictly economy tunes. I have tunes from 3 different places, 8 different tunes in total.

2) Edge Evolution Color Screen or Color Touch Screen turned into a Gryphon by Power Hungry Performance. Bill does his own custom tunes for this unit and I believe he is the only one that can write for this unit (I could be wrong).

[caissiel]

I use max energy by Hypertech and EGT and Boost has never been a problem for almost 4 years.

Saves fuels at 80HP settings at higher speeds over 2K RPM.

Scangauge II has been the best tool for saving fuel.